HOLLISTON, Mass., July 20, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:HBIO), a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialized products used to advance life science research and regenerative medicine, announces that its Harvard Apparatus / Hugo Sachs Elektronik business collaborated with Dr. Harald Ott and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) to design and manufacture a novel bioreactor that was used to grow a functional lung. The lung was subsequently transplanted into a rat. The paper, titled "Regeneration and orthotopic transplantation of a bioartificial lung," was published online in Nature Medicine on July 13, 2010.

"We congratulate Dr. Harald Ott and Massachusetts General Hospital for achieving this major advance in the field of regenerative medicine," said David Green, President of Harvard Bioscience. He continued, "For nearly two years we have been collaborating with Dr. Ott and MGH to develop the sophisticated and novel bioreactor he needed to regenerate the lung. We believe Dr. Ott was the first doctor to achieve transplantation of a regenerated lung and that this achievement marks a milestone in the development of the field of regenerative medicine."

Mr. Green continued, "Our Harvard Apparatus business was founded at Harvard Medical School over 100 years ago to develop tools to advance life science research. We are now building on our technologies in cell, tissue and organ research to create new tools that will be needed by researchers and clinicians in the new field of regenerative medicine. We believe these new tools will play a crucial enabling role as regenerative medicine continues to advance."

In addition to the lung regeneration bioreactor, Harvard Bioscience also makes and sells what it believes is the world's first commercially available bioreactor for tubular organ regeneration that has been used for a human transplant. The human bronchus transplant was reported by Dr. Paolo Macchiarini et al. in The Lancet on November 19, 2008. In addition to the Company's growing line of bioreactors, it has also announced its intention to seek FDA approval for a clinical version of its market-leading Harvard Apparatus research syringe pump technology so that it can be used on humans for regenerative medicine applications.

About Harvard Bioscience

Harvard Bioscience ("HBIO") is a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a broad range of specialized products, primarily apparatus and scientific instruments, used to advance life science research and regenerative medicine. HBIO sells its products to thousands of researchers in over 100 countries primarily through its 850 page catalog (and various other specialty catalogs), its website, through distributors, including GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific and VWR, and via our field sales organization. HBIO has sales and manufacturing operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain with additional facilities in France and Canada. For more information, please visit www.harvardbioscience.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. You can identify these statements by our use of such words as "will," "guidance," "objectives," "optimistic," "potential," "future," "expects," "plans," "estimates," "continue," "drive," "strategy," "crucial," "potential," "potentially," "growth," "long-term," "projects," "projected," "intends," "believes," "goals," "sees," "seek," "develop" "possible" "new," "enabling," "emerging," "opportunity," "pursue" and similar expressions that do not relate to historical matters. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, but are not limited to, statements or inferences about the Company's or management's beliefs or expectations, the field of regenerative medicine, opportunities or potential opportunities in the field of regenerative medicine, the Company's business strategy, the positioning of the Company for growth, the market demand and opportunity for the Company's current products or products it is developing or intends to develop, and the Company's plans, objectives and intentions that are not historical facts.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include the Company's failure to successfully expand its product offerings, introduce new products or commercialize new technologies, including in the field of regenerative medicine, decreased demand for the Company's products, including products in the field of regenerative medicine, due to changes in our customers' needs, our ability to obtain regulatory approvals, including FDA approval, for our products, including any products in the field of regenerative medicine, the current size or anticipated size of the regenerative medicine market, the existence and size of opportunities in the regenerative medicine market, our financial position, general economic outlook or other circumstances, overall economic trends, our ability to manage our growth, competition from our competitors, technological changes resulting in our products becoming obsolete, our ability to protect our intellectual property and operate without infringing on others' intellectual property, potential costs of any lawsuits to protect or enforce our intellectual property, research funding levels from endowments at our university customers, plus factors described under the heading "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009 or described in the Company's other public filings. The Company's results may also be affected by factors of which the Company is not currently aware. The Company may not update these forward-looking statements, even though its situation may change in the future, unless it has obligations under the federal securities laws to update and disclose material developments related to previously disclosed information.

Harvard is a registered trademark of Harvard University. The marks Harvard Apparatus and Harvard Bioscience are being used pursuant to a license agreement between Harvard University and Harvard Bioscience, Inc.